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October 2 - December 31, 2018
Then God restores us—the real us. Once we surrender ourselves, he gives us back our true selves. In fact, the most important journey any woman will take is the journey into becoming herself through the love of God. It is a journey that will require courage, faith, and above all a willingness to grow and to let go. The journey of becoming is one of increased self-awareness coupled with a surrender of self. It is a dance between choosing and yielding, desiring and relinquishing, trying and giving up.
there a way to hasten the change we long for in our lives? Yes. Accelerating our “becoming” involves saying yes to God again and again and again. It is not a posture of striving but of releasing. It looks a lot more like yielding than pushing through to the next goal. We collapse into God’s life within us. “Christ in me, help me” becomes our prayer. That is why he often brings us to the end of our ropes, the end of ourselves. Because it is from there we turn from our striving and raise our arms in surrender to our God again to save us.
faith we turn to him. By faith we choose to believe that he hears our prayer. By faith we believe he is good and is for us. By faith we trust that though we may not see it or feel it, God ...
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God knows. He has not turned his face away. The very fact that we long for the change we do is a sign that we are meant to have it. Our very dissatisfaction with our weaknesses and struggles points to the reality that continuing to live in them is not our destiny.
The voice of shame says, I hate me; I need to get rid of me. The voice of discipline says, I’ve got to fix me because me is not good. God says, I love you; let me restore you. I like that one best.
choose to believe today that I am loved, wanted, seen, delighted in, provided for, cherished, chosen, known, and planned. I am set apart, believed in, invited, valued, and blessed!
is simply to ask, what do you like? What would you do with your life if you were free to do anything at all?
him. He has planted dreams and desires in each one of our hearts that are unique to us. Opening up our spirits, our minds, our hearts, our imaginations to what we would really like—to even the possibility of wanting—allows the Holy Spirit to awaken parts of ourselves that are in such a deep sleep that no dreams are happening.
When we dream with God, we don’t want to start thinking immediately, How can I make this happen? Dreaming with God isn’t about how. It’s about what. If anything could happen, then what would I love to see happen in my life? What would I love to see happen in the lives of those I love?
It’s okay to want, and it’s okay to want more. Wanting more has nothing to do with feeling unsatisfied or lacking in your present reality. It’s being open to the more that God wants to bring to you in your life. The possibilities for you are limitless! Yes, they are. Maybe not for tomorrow but for your life. What can God not do? What is too hard for him to accomplish in your relationships, achievements, creativity, and in the fullness of the expression of who you are? We want to be women who continue to grow all our lives. We never want to stop. Yes, we rest. But a heart alive is a heart that
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I’ve tried to assuage my thirsty heart with the mirror, with accomplishments, with relationships. I still need something to drink. I need the Living Water himself. So do you. This is our most precious fundamental need. We have heard the alluring sound of flowing, life-giving water, and we have come to the river.
Because we belong to God, we can rest in knowing that his promises to us are true and he is faithful.
but how and when. It is not a question of if he is going to move on our behalf but of how he will.
but of if we will recognize
can live with joyful expectancy! There are no ifs with God.
his people to ask him in faith—pressing in, continuing to ask no matter how long it takes, believing that he will come through for us.
God, help me to keep turning to you, to keep trusting, to keep believing that nothing is impossible for you.
We have to have space in our lives in order to have room for wonder, joy, and awe—in order to have room for God! We
know that when we say no, we risk offending people. We risk disappointing them. But if we don’t say no—if we refuse empty spaces and only fill our lives with busyness and people pleasing—then we risk losing something much more important. We sacrifice the quality of ourselves that makes us women of worth, substance, and depth. We fill all the space ourselves and leave God out. A full life does not equal a beautiful one. A busy life does not equal a joyful one.
Oh, no. We were created to desperately need Jesus. We have always needed him, and we always will. I do not believe God caused the pain of our lives, but I do know he uses it to drive us to him.
Still, I realize the reason I am where I am is because of the journey I have been on. And not just the lovely “I’d love to do that again” parts of my journey either. The ugly parts too. I got here from there.
Forgetting our mistakes, victories, challenges, sorrows—our story—prevents us from moving forward and growing into the women God created us to be. Remembering is a part of becoming.
You will get to find out what was going on behind the scenes. He will share with you the ways he was working all things together for your good. It will be marvelous to hear. Because God has been loving you, shielding you, and delighting in you—though now you do not see it as clearly as you will one day.
Invite God to show you your past through his eyes. Ask him to surface good memories you have forgotten. He would love to do it. He wants to lead you to healing. He wants to replace regret with mercy. The stories from your past that shaped you and the words spoken over your life that have crippled you do not stand a chance in the light of the powerful grace and mercy that come to us now in the Person of Jesus. You do not have to remain captive any longer. The holy work of God deep in your heart as you have suffered is stunning beyond measure. You may not see the goodness yet, but you will. You
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A great darkness of the world is misogyny—the hatred of women. We see stories of violence, prejudice, and neglect from every country, including our own. We experience misogyny ourselves in both dramatic and subtle ways.
the battlefield, in the middle of a world that often demeans and hurts women. But God loves women. Jesus loves women. And as we become more ourselves, we come to love who we are as women and recognize all we have to offer a broken world.
Jesus called Satan the prince of this world. Satan is the prince of darkness, whose sole aim is to steal, kill, and destroy life in all its forms.
When we come to understand that Satan is the cause of hatred against women, we can not only make leaps forward in understanding our lives but also find our way through the battle to the goodness God has for us and the goodness he wants to bring through us.
women and has poured his hatred onto our very existence. Let him be afraid, then. We are more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens us, and we will not be overcome. God is our strength. Jesus is our defender. The Holy Spirit is our portion. And in the name of our God and Savior, we will choose to love him. We will choose to bow down in surrendered worship to our God. And by the power of Christ in us, we will choose to rise up and be women of God, bringing his kingdom in unyielding and merciful strength.
made is not good. It’s time to stop doing that. The way to navigate the battle begins with love. Not blame, not finger- pointing, but love.
Let us begin by celebrating the role we play. Let us champion these callings and celebrate them every way we can. The truth is that who we are as women, what we bring, and the role we play in the world, in the kingdom of God, and in the lives of men, women, and children are of immeasurable worth and power.
The kingdom of God will not advance as it needs to without women rising up ...
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The transformation and healing of a man requires the presence, strength, and mercy of a woman. Men will not become the men they are meant to be without godly women pouring into their lives. Women will not become who they are meant to be without the strength, encouragement, and wisdom of other women nurturing their lives. Women are image bear...
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Yes, it’s been hard. But that’s because you are so vitally needed. Your valiant feminine heart is needed today in the lives of thos...
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Our worth is inherent in the fact that we are image bearers of the living God.
will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.
does not have to be your destiny. The healing presence of Jesus Christ can come in and wash clean the pain of your childhood. What you believe, what you choose now is your path and your future.
Jesus is the one who has the right to speak into our lives with authority and power.
bless who we are and who we are becoming. He is our inheritance, and we must bring him our hearts, our wounds, all that we were meant to have as girls growing up. His name is Faithful and True. He is t...
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The sting of death is removed, the pain of the memory is released to Jesus, and healing comes.
us to the truth of who we are and the reality of the life we are living and are meant to
We are loved, wanted, seen, delighted in, provided for, cherished, chosen, known, and planned on. We are set apart, believed in, invited, valued, of immeasurable worth, and blessed.
invite Jesus here He spoke the word that healed you. —Psalm 107:20 MSG
Jesus, thank you for not calling me to be perfect today! You are calling me to be yours.
Embracing ourselves has nothing to do with arrogance or settling for a lower version of who we are. Embracing ourselves has everything to do with embracing the goodness of God’s creative work in us. It means trusting God, believing that all he has made is glorious and good.
It’s about embracing who we are and who he has created us to be. In him. He is our dream come true, and the one true love of our life. But we can’t love him with our whole hearts when our hearts are asleep. To love Jesus means to risk coming awake, to risk wanting and desiring. It means risking that you believe one day your dreams may come true.
We want to be women who live their lives on purpose.
Being beautiful is a quality of spirit recognized primarily in a woman whose soul is at rest because she believes her God when he calls her lovely. She is no longer striving to reach the world’s unattainable standards of beauty and acceptance but instead is receiving the inheritance that is hers as an image bearer of the living God. She is embracing who God has made her to be. You are a stunner. And the more you grow in knowing God, the more you will love him, and the more his life and his beauty will inhabit you and flow out from your unique, fabulous, embraceable self. Go ahead and take a
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Frozen ideas, frozen souls, frozen bodies can’t move, can’t dream, can’t risk, can’t love, and can’t live. Fear chains us.
The story of my life and the struggles
